See Sumerian Civilization from Sanxingdui

 

See Sumerian Civilization from Sanxingdui

 

The cultural relics unearthed from the Sanxingdui site shocked the world. The biggest highlight is that the Sanxingdui cultural relics have many similarities with the ancient Sumerian civilization. It makes people question whether the origin of Chinese civilization is the localization of China or the external continuation of the Sumerian civilization. Even though Even if they are integrated with each other, it is difficult to deny that even if the Sumerian civilization is in its decline, China is still only at the beginning of the Xia and Shang Dynasties. To measure ancient civilization, there are three major elements: ancient culture, ancient cities, and ancient countries. During the Xia and Shang Dynasties, it was just tribal disputes, while the Sumerian civilization was already very shocking.

Lacuo, Agudengba, the foreigner John, and the archaeological expert Aza talked about the Sumerian civilization with great enthusiasm, but when it came to the Sanxingdui civilization, it seemed a bit mysterious.

Mr John said:

The Sumerian civilization, which was 3,000 years earlier than the ancient Chinese civilization, had reached a highly developed stage of civilization in terms of mathematics, water conservancy, architecture, art, biology, agriculture, education, religion, legal system, etc. Cultural relics such as female stone statues, pottery dogs, pottery sheep, and stone axes unearthed in the Mesopotamia and Mesopotamia dating back about 10,000 years. Although the appearance of the cultural relics has been blurred by time, they have become living witnesses of the civilization in the Mesopotamia.

The gold coin "Daliuk Gold Coin" minted by the Achaemenid Dynasty of Persia has a half-kneeling image of the king holding a bow and spear on the front, and there is a stamp on the back. The appearance of "bow" and "spear" obviously confirms that their existence is related to Sumer.

"Daluk Gold Coins" were mainly used for army pay and were popular in the Anatolia region. They not only confirmed the earliest appearance of currency, but also set a precedent for engraving images of kings or leaders on coins.

When did China's currency appear? What is the earliest military pay in China? And when was gold used to make coins? When and where did gold development and production take place in China? No one can explain clearly.

Archaeological expert Aza said:

We can choose to take bronze civilization as the entry point to understand the supreme glory of the world's ancient civilizations. Among the archaeological discoveries in China, there are golden human heads and bronze masks in Sanxingdui, as well as cultural relics such as dragon-shaped covers, jade knives, and bronze human heads of "Zhuge Liang"; the "treasure of the museum" in Sichuan Museum is an animal mask with an elephant head and ears. Exquisite bronze wares such as copper lei with patterns and copper pots with inlaid water and land attack patterns.

But what people are very surprised about is the bronze mask unearthed in Sanxingdui, which is closer to the image of a European.

Some experts believe that this may be because it is directly related to the ancient Sumerian civilization. Unfortunately, the Sanxingdui civilization has such a profound culture but has no written records. The ancient Sumerian civilization only made people aware of the existence of this civilization because of the invention of cuneiform writing. It existed a long time ago.

The ancient Sumerians invented cuneiform, the earliest human hieroglyphics. They also invented smelting technology, heating ore into liquid, and smelting bronze, which was used to make tools and weapons. However, due to resource and technical constraints, there has been no Even after the discovery of iron and bronze, they could not be widely promoted, and most farmers still used wooden agricultural tools.

Although ancient Sumerians used wooden farm tools and invented the plow and wheel; they also created agriculture and cultivated crops. The plants cultivated by the Sumerians included barley, chickpeas, lentils, millet, wheat, turnips, and coconuts. Dates, onions, garlic, bitter cauliflower, leeks and horseradish, and their livestock included cattle, sheep, goats and pigs. Domestic cattle are their main burden animals, and donkeys are their main transportation animals. The Sumerians also fished and hunted birds.

The Sumerians also learned to dig ditches and created the earliest irrigation systems. Its irrigation system includes booms, canals, aqueducts, dykes, weirs and reservoirs. Drains and canals must be regularly repaired and silt removed. The government had people dedicated to managing aqueducts and canals, and the wealthy could use their own canals.

Farmers used canals to flood their fields and then drain the water away. They then used cattle to trample fields and kill grass. They then used pickaxes to dig into the ground. After the ground was dry they hoeed, harrowed and loosened the soil with shovels.

The Sumerians harvested in the fall, and they formed teams of three during harvest. After harvesting, grinding stones are used to separate the grains and stems, rice sticks are used to separate the grains and bran, and wind blowing is used to separate the grains and bran.

The Sumerians invented agricultural tools such as the pickaxe, stone grinder, and rice stick, as well as tools and supplies such as the wheel, saw, hammer, shovel, fork, cauldron, nails, pins, and glue. Sumerian technology also includes: leather, saddles, boots, slippers, bags, bracelets, rings, etc. Also included are winemaking techniques.

Sumerian ceramics have patterns painted on cedar, and they used bow drills to start fires to bake the ceramics. The Sumerians were stonemasons and jewelers. Alabaster (calcite), ivory, gold, silver, onyx and lapis lazuli are worked.

Sumerian inventions also included military supplies such as knives, spears, bows and arrows, swords and daggers, helmets, armor, arrow barrels, scabbards, etc. The Sumerian army consisted mainly of infantry. The weapons of the light infantry were axes, daggers and spears. Regular infantry also wore bronze helmets, felt cloaks and leather skirts. The Sumerian army also had carts pulled by wild donkeys. These early chariots were not very useful in combat, and some believe they were primarily used as transportation vehicles, but the soldiers on them were equipped with battle axes and spears. The Sumerian chariot had four wheels, had two soldiers on it, and was pulled by four wild asses. The body is a woven basket and the wheels are solid. Remote weapons used by the Sumerians included slings and simple bows.

The Sumerians also invented three different types of boats: skin boats made of reeds and animal skins; sailing boats that used pitch to prevent water from seeping in; and wooden boats that were sometimes pulled by human or animal power.

Mr John said:

My deepest impression of Sumer is that they created cities and established 12 city-states, the largest of which had 50,000 people. Their architectural characteristics are: the city walls are made of earth and stone, and the houses are made of earth and wood. They use sun-dried mud bricks, which are very different from the white people's boulder house structures. However, ancient Chinese buildings were all civil structures mainly made of mud bricks. The Sumerian civilization, which was 3,000 years earlier than the ancient Chinese civilization, certainly could not have learned this construction technology from China.

The ziggurat of Ur is a 3-story building with a height of 21.33 meters. It is the earliest sacred tower of its kind in Mesopotamia. It was built by King Ur-Nammu who established the Third Dynasty of Ur (2112 BC-2004 BC).

The powerful dynasty after the Akkadian Kingdom was the Third Dynasty of Ur (2112 BC - 2004 BC). In order to strengthen centralized rule, the kings of the Third Dynasty of Ur strengthened their control over the ideological field. They built or rebuilt temples throughout the kingdom and sent their children to serve as high priests or high priestesses in the temples.

Sumerian temples consisted of a central hall with passages on both sides. On the outside of the passage were the residences of the priests. On one side of the hall was a raised platform on which a mudbrick table was dedicated for animal and vegetable sacrifices. Granaries and warehouses were generally located near temples. Later, the Sumerians began to build temples on square platforms. These high platforms were continuously raised to form pagoda temples.

The Sumerians used walls to protect their cities, but their walls were made of mud bricks, so the enemy could dig in during a siege and cause the walls to collapse if they had enough time.

In terms of religion, the most important move of King Shulgi (2094-2047 BC), who brought the Third Dynasty of Ur to its peak, was to officially declare himself a god. His father, Ur-Nammu (2112-2095 BC), the founder of the Third Dynasty of Ur, was considered a god by the people only after his death. Shulgi was indeed worshiped and worshiped by people throughout the empire. The empire held religious activities to worship his statue twice a month. A large number of hymns were composed to praise his great achievements. After Shulgi's death, his successors also inherited the title of "god", and this "god", like Shulgi, is the god of the whole country, not just the patron saint of a certain city. Through this series of ruling measures in the ideological field, the concept of centralization has penetrated deeply into citizens at every level.

Mr. John continued:

In the concept of the ancient Mesopotamians, all land belongs to the gods in heaven, all people are created by gods and serve the people of gods, and all the lands of gods are used to support the people of gods. of. The theory of the deification of kingship claims that the king is the representative or agent of God in heaven on earth, and he represents God upward to shepherd God’s people. Therefore, all kings call themselves “shepherds” and are responsible for conveying God’s will to God’s people; Downward, on behalf of the people, they serve the gods, pray to the gods, and ask for their blessings. The methods of deification of royal power can be summarized in three forms, or it has gone through three stages: first, declaring oneself to be the representative of God in the world and the high priest of God; second, being canonized as a god after his death; third, also declaring oneself to be the representative of God in the world. The ultimate expression of the theory of deification of kingship is that the king is directly canonized as a god while he is still alive, or calls himself a god. Whether the king is canonized as a god after death or calls himself a god during his lifetime, it all reflects the power of the king, reaching the level of being on par with gods, and even "god is me, and I am god". This greatly consolidated and strengthened the king's rule.

The main god of Sumer is Anu, the sky god, and Anu's most important companions are Enki in the south, Enlil in the north, and Ishtar, the god of Venus. The sun god is called Utu, the moon god is called Nanna, the mother god is named Namu, and there are hundreds of minor gods. Each god is associated with a city. The importance of these gods also varied with the political rise and fall of these cities. Man is made of clay by God and his purpose is to serve God. If God was angry, they would punish people with earthquakes or storms.

The Sumerian beliefs were the earliest recorded beliefs and were the source of later Mesopotamian mythology, religion, and astrology. The Sumerians believed that man could only survive with the mercy of God.

Archaeological expert Aza said:

It is worth mentioning that when the Third Dynasty of Ur was strong, China did not yet exist, and China was still in the tribal era. According to Chinese historical records, the first dynasty was the Xia Dynasty (about 2000 BC - about 1600 BC). The Xia Dynasty was the first country in Chinese history established by Yu's son Qi who abolished the traditional tribal "abdication" system, killed Yi and became king. Xia Yu's succession to his son replaced the previous abdication system, and the abdication system became a hereditary system for the throne. The Xia Dynasty lasted for 13 generations and 16 kings. The central area of the Xia Dynasty was in today's western Henan and southern Shanxi. It is said that after Qi's death, Taikang ascended the throne, and there was a temporary regime change, which was the so-called "lost country". After Shaokang Zhongxing, the Xia Dynasty was rebuilt. By the time of Kong Jia's reign, the Xia Dynasty was in decline. After that, the three spreads reached Jie, and the Xia Dynasty perished. About 400 years ago, it was later destroyed by the Shang Dynasty.

Old man Aza sang a song "Aura of Civilization":

 

Every nation has its own glory,

There is also a process of hard work that has gone through many vicissitudes of life.

The process of the Sumerians moving towards civilization,

Changed people's understanding of the world.

Let us gradually understand some truths,

The birthplace of civilization will also be destroyed.

Civilization will make society continue to grow,

Society will continue to distort civilization.

 

Every nation will praise its own nation,

Screaming under the banner of nationalism,

What it brings is endless war,

There is no end to opening up territories and conquering cities.

As time goes by in spring, summer, autumn and winter,

Nationalism takes on the aura of civilization,

After human beings have experienced many things,

Begin to question the definition of civilization.

 

Each of our ordinary living beings,

Maybe my life is very simple,

There is no grand nationalist ideal,

But everyone can live out their own meaning.

We love freedom, equality and civilization,

Enjoy the beauty of life to the fullest,

Maybe our world is small,

But smiling happily is fine.